Blake Lively felt 'compromised' with Gossip Girl

The 27-year-old actress portrayed Serena Van Der Woodsen in the TV drama and admitted the dark subject themes were at odds with her own desire to promote a "better message".

She said: "People loved it, but it always felt a little personally compromising - you want to be putting a better message out there...

"I loved it when they put Blair and Serena as best friends supporting each other."

And Blake - who has six-month-old daughter James with husband Ryan Reynolds - couldn't understand why parents would let their teenage children watch the show.

She added: "When parents would say, 'My teenager is watching your show', I wanted to say, 'Hold on. Why? Are you having a talk with them after?'

"From the drug use to the point where we're killing people, it's sexual and salacious."

The actress - who dated her 'Gossip Girl' co-star Penn Badgley for three years until 2010 - also found it frustrating when people couldn't distinguish between her and her character, though she understands why.

She told Britain's Glamour magazine: "The lines become blurred. It doesn't help when everyone is dating who they are dating on the show, and you're saying to the costume designer, 'Hey, can I take that home?'

"But it's a weird thing when people feel like they know you very well and they don't."